Being able to detect an electrical conductance of a material with a high degree of accuracy may be useful in various situations. For example, carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) may be used to form an exterior skin of an airplane. Commercial airplanes in the United States are reportedly struck by lightning in flight more than once per year on average. As such, being able to accurately predict how a lightning strike would affect a particular formulation of CFRP or other materials may be useful. For instance, if the CFRP of an airplane's skin is too resistive to electric current flow, a lightning strike might generate an undesirable amount of heat. The known conductance of CFRP may be used to increase the accuracy of a simulation of a lightning strike event, for example.
The accuracy and/or precision (e.g., repeatability) of measurements performed by a conductance measuring device may be dependent on how much force is applied to the material under test by electrodes of the device. Conductance measurements of the same portion of material might differ significantly if the contact force is not consistently applied.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and a method for monitoring and controlling a compressive force applied by electrodes to facilitate reliable conductance measurements.